In the past, various types of electrical connections have been provided to different types of semiconductor devices. Electrical connections have been provided to top and bottom portions of semiconductor chips which comprise semiconductor substrates having one or more regions of opposite type conductivity (i.e. P or N). Electrical connections to the top surface portion of one region of a semiconductor substrate usually extend in a substantially horizontal direction above the semiconductor substrate before a portion of the electrical connection extends vertically into electrical contact with an exposed region of the semiconductor substrate. Such a prior art type of top electrical connections is undesirable because transient voltages provided by the top (P or N) regions of the semiconductor substrate can affect the substantially horizontal top electrical connection.
Therefore, a need existed to provide an improved electrical connection by means of an opening or hole through preferably the center portion of a transient voltage suppressor chip or substrate to permit thru-hole mounting of a metal pin for electrical connection to a top region (P or N) of the chip or substrate.